Get Ready To Be Totally Charmed by This New Footwear Trend
Shoe charms are taking over our feet and our feeds.
Fashion’s trinket obsession has officially made its way down to your feet. Shoe charms are cropping up everywhere, from runway styling and campaigns to even your local pub. Following last year’s bag charm craze, the brooch revival and the ongoing Jane Birkin-ification of everything, personalization continues to dominate the style conversation. It was only a matter of time before the trinket takeover reached our footwear.
In a way, it feels like a modern remix of something Crocs pioneered back in the early 2000s with its now-signature Jibbitz. The customizable rubber charms, from diamanté hearts to cartoon characters, were once the hallmark of a niche comfort brand but have since evolved into collectible artifacts. Thanks to Crocs’ recent high-fashion collaborators, including Simone Rocha, the charms have crossed over from niche to covetable. And now, there’s something for sneakerheads too.
On Instagram, the hashtag #shoecharms has amassed thousands of inspo-pics, from beaded bows on adidas Gazelles, metallic hardware dangling from laces and DIY embellishments galore. According to trend platform Trendalytics, TikTok posts mentioning “shoe charms” have surged 217% since spring, a clear sign that the microtrend is on the brink of full-blown domination.
Luxury brands have also been quick to tap in. Miu Miu’s current sneaker lineup features bows, pompoms and brocade laces, as seen on Sydney Sweeney’s Instagram earlier this year. Elsewhere, Coach has taken a maximalist approach with chunky, heavy-duty charms, including a miniature yellow taxi cab clipped to the front of its sneakers. In the world of shoe charms, there’s no such thing as OTT.
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More recently, after its SS26 show in London, talent incubator Fashion East dropped a collaboration with Nike, where three of its designers created shoe charms to add to your kicks. Bows, ribbons, silver hardware and more are now available to customize your Nikes courtesy of Jawara Alleyne, Ashley Williams and HRH. Merrell and Lonely Ghost dropped a shoe collab featuring pearl beaded charms and bows, while perhaps the quirkiest of them all was HOKA and UNNA’s collaboration that came complete with plastic, glow-in-the-dark caterpillar charms. If one thing is clear, the trend is definitely about personality over practicality.
Part of the appeal lies in the low-effort customization. You can repurpose bag charms and even earrings to clip onto lace-ups, while the collectible nature means that you can easily be unique. For all of you out there who were collectors as kids, whether that was stamps, cards or coins, this is a way to re-channel that energy into your modern wardrobe.
From tasteful to tacky (maybe a matter of opinion), there really are no rules when it comes to shoe charms. Whether it’s a yellow taxi, a bow or a Teletubby, it’s all about personality. So, the real question is: will you be charmed?
